Film 130 in the "1001 Films to See Before You Die" challenge is 1979's "The Jerk". This film marks the debut of Steve Martin as an actor. This film is listed as a comedy and I didn't find one thing funny about the film. It's pretty clear that the comedy is outdated. It starts with a "I'm white but was raised by a black family and I know all their lingo" to just getting a job by taking a piss. If getting jobs was that easy, unemployment numbers would be a lot lower than they are not. I lost interest within 25 minutes and pretty much decided I'd had enough. This is one of many films in the list that I had high hopes for. And sadly, I was let down. In these 25 minutes or so that I watched, it very heavily stereotypes that black people hate everyone who's white when he tell Navin "Don't trust whitey" and Latin Americans are all robbers who drive low riders and smoke weed. I thought that with the film being called "The Jerk" that I was expecting Steve Martin to be just that. Instead he's an idiot who has no idea about what life is. Who get's excited about Yellow Pages phone books? Regardless, I switched the film off and that's the end of it. If you have seen this film then let me know what you thought of it in the comments. Here is what I had to say while watching 1979's "The Jerk"
Film - The Jerk
Year - 1979
Director - Carl Reiner
Written by - Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, Michael Elias
Staring - Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams
IMDb Rating - 7.2/10
My Rating - ZZZzzz
Length - 94 min (1h 34min)
Genre - Comedy
Time for a film premiere.... Unless you're these bums
Navin says he isn't a bum. He's a jerk
"I was born a poor, black child"
Time to see how Navin ended up as a bum
We start in a shack in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi
Try and be like us even though you're not
There's a cat on a roof!
It's Navin's birthday and here's your favourite meal - A tune mayo sandwich and a twinkie
Dad gives him his zippo!
Navin gets told he was left on their doorstep
Blues songs make me depressed
When in doubt... have a Twinkie to cheer yourself up
Must... Not... Dance... To... Jazz music!
Everyone watch me dance to jazz
Before you leave, let me teach you all about animal poo
Navin decides to leave his family behind and head to St Louis, Missouri
"Lord loves a working man. Don't trust whitey!"
Let's try hitchhiking outside my home
He's still outside after several hours
He hitch hiked about 20 feet
Time to hitch hike my way across American to St Louis
Don't you hate getting woken up by a dog?
How does he know what the dog is trying to tell him?
There is no fire after all
I'll take this dog with me and name him "Shithead"
Navin just became president of Texaco Oil
$1.10 an hour? That's really shitty salary
He sent $2 to his family
Why is Navin dressed like an ice cream man server from the old days
He gets a new home... a gas station toilet... so he thinks
You'll be sleeping in the closet
All I want as payment is a postcard if you're ever famous
Why would you leave Navin in charge of a gas station?
Let me just wave all my money in front of these criminals
Their car is stolen property!!!
I was gonna ask why they would steal tyres but it makes sense
Let me attach rope to the rear axle of the car to a pipe
Here's all the money we have and "you've on a free oven mitt"
Like a church can move that easily from a low rider
He's just realised what he's done!
But he's overly excited about having his name in a phonebook
I really have lost interest
ZZZzzz
Film - The Jerk
Year - 1979
Director - Carl Reiner
Written by - Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, Michael Elias
Staring - Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams
IMDb Rating - 7.2/10
My Rating - ZZZzzz
Length - 94 min (1h 34min)
Genre - Comedy
Time for a film premiere.... Unless you're these bums
Navin says he isn't a bum. He's a jerk
"I was born a poor, black child"
Time to see how Navin ended up as a bum
We start in a shack in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi
Try and be like us even though you're not
There's a cat on a roof!
It's Navin's birthday and here's your favourite meal - A tune mayo sandwich and a twinkie
Dad gives him his zippo!
Navin gets told he was left on their doorstep
Blues songs make me depressed
When in doubt... have a Twinkie to cheer yourself up
Must... Not... Dance... To... Jazz music!
Everyone watch me dance to jazz
Before you leave, let me teach you all about animal poo
Navin decides to leave his family behind and head to St Louis, Missouri
"Lord loves a working man. Don't trust whitey!"
Let's try hitchhiking outside my home
He's still outside after several hours
He hitch hiked about 20 feet
Time to hitch hike my way across American to St Louis
Don't you hate getting woken up by a dog?
How does he know what the dog is trying to tell him?
There is no fire after all
I'll take this dog with me and name him "Shithead"
Navin just became president of Texaco Oil
$1.10 an hour? That's really shitty salary
He sent $2 to his family
Why is Navin dressed like an ice cream man server from the old days
He gets a new home... a gas station toilet... so he thinks
You'll be sleeping in the closet
All I want as payment is a postcard if you're ever famous
Why would you leave Navin in charge of a gas station?
Let me just wave all my money in front of these criminals
Their car is stolen property!!!
I was gonna ask why they would steal tyres but it makes sense
Let me attach rope to the rear axle of the car to a pipe
Here's all the money we have and "you've on a free oven mitt"
Like a church can move that easily from a low rider
He's just realised what he's done!
But he's overly excited about having his name in a phonebook
I really have lost interest
ZZZzzz